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Tomorrow is operation “blackout”. Websites everywhere are being shut down for 24 hours tomorrow to stop the SOPA and PIPA bills from being passed later this month.

We at Three TEN Seven Design are absolutely against these bills and are joining tomorrows protest in an effort to stop SOPA from giving what we believe is far too much power to big business to censor content on the Internet as they see fit.

Small businesses, social media sites, sites like DeviantArt and Pinterest could be shut down at any time because of users expressing them themselves online; posting content that may have originated in other places. DeviantArt, for example could be shut down due the posting of fanart – or art that resembles a character or characters and that originated elsewhere.

We think this is a big deal and we also think that it will put boundaries on our freedom online, and we think that’s an injustice. That’s why, tomorrow, January 18th, 2012, we are shutting down for 24 hours beginning at 8am and will return the following day.

What are SOPA and PIPA?

If you are not familiar with either of these bills and how they work, read this. Please, educate yourself on these bills – you can search more resources and posts, just type SOPA or PIPA in Google.

Why we are doing this

As I mentioned above. We personally believe that the passing of these bills would be an injustice to the American people. We believe that freedom in this country is dwindling and we, as entrepreneurs, have always cherished our freedom.

You may find that you do not share the same opinions. We understand. But I encourage you to decide for yourself what you believe while we exercise the right to decide what we believe.

One more note, just because the site is down tomorrow does not mean we aren’t available be phone or e-mail. We want to continue to serve our clients even while we are in protest, so if you need to contact us please feel free to do so.

When mapping out ideas and schedules for blog posts for 2012, I thought that I would cover a wide range of subjects; including the basics of design. I thought that touching on the basics of what we already know, and use daily as a design company may help our clients and readers get some ideas for their own business and marketing plans. This week, I’m going to begin by sharing my knowledge of business branding with you, in parts.

Part 1 – Color

Any designer knows that the right typography, layout and colors are important, and if you are a smart business person, you have probably consulted with a designer at some point to help put your marketing plan into motion. That’s because a good designer knows that marketing material is most effective when it’s designed with their client’s target audience in mind. The right design can grab the attention of an audience, make them feel good about purchasing product or service and even help them remember a business name long after they’ve seen an ad, poster, website, or billboard.

Most people love color. Color can attract and entice them; or make them feel at ease, powerful, happy, excited, or trendy. If you haven’t done so already, choosing a color or two to represent your product or service can make your business stand out. That’s way so many companies use distinctive colors. In logo design, especially, color is a critical component in the representation of a business – it sets the mood and tone for all marketing material and the business itself.

Let me give you an example. The colors below are each a main representative color for four large companies. From left to right, can you identify them?

Did you figure out which color belongs to which company? These four colors have been the basis for that company’s logo and all there marketing material. You’ve seen it before, so much that now you may recognize the color and understand, probably pretty easily, what you’ve learned to associate each color with. These colors could very well be from anything but you most likely thought of the companies that they represent. Cool, huh? That’s because these colors have become synonymous with the company’s name, logo and ultimately, their brand.

The Character of Color

Why do you think Starbucks for example, uses the color green (above)? Well, the color green is often associated with the words, “natural, earthy, healthy, beauty, fortune, wholesome, nurture, life”. Starbucks is a company has prided itself on being “green”; using post-consumer materials and supporting causes like green energy, conserving water and resources and supporting such causes as well as providing rich, healthy foods and coffees to their consumers.

What do you think of when you see that color?

If you haven’t already, think of a color or two for your business, or to represent yourself with that color’s emotional reaction in mind. Here are a few color associations:

For the Colorblind

As you have been reading through this post, you have probably thought of those who can’t see colors the way they may have been intended to be seen. Unfortunately, we cannot change how colors are seen in some people but what we can do is use contrasting colors our advantage.

Contrast is the difference or unlikeness between colors. Black and white, for example are contrasting and are easily distinguished from one another. So to make sure that your colors are accommodating to your entire audience, make sure that they have a fair amount of contrast between them.

A good way to do this is to remove the color and view your material in black and white. Can you still tell the colors apart? Is the difference between them still clear? If so, your colors are contrasted well.

A Note on Matching Colors

If you are planning on using more than one color (other than black and white) for your brand and are unsure how to pair them, consult your designer or a color wheel (below).

Here are the three basic rules on matching colors:

First, the two colors opposite each other on the color wheel are natural compliments, for example.

Second, any two or more colors that are immediately next to one another are monochromatic, and also go together but be careful of your contrast when using them.

Third, you may use three colors that are compliments; here’s how you find them:

Directly on top of the color wheel, draw an imaginary triangle that spans the wheel itself. The colors where each point of your triangle falls are called, split-compliments and also work nicely together.

Happy 2012, everyone! Today I wanted to resurrect our blog and wish you all a very Happy New Year. We are back in 2012 with a brand new site (mobile version soon to follow).

Just to recap 2011: last spring Tristan and I had to move very suddenly to a new home. Little did we know that our new home was just outside Philadelphia. So we packed our things and our business and make the long drive north. While here, we have unpacked everything and resumed normal operations. We have met some wonderful people here already and we are excited to begin 2012 anew.

So in the spirit of new beginnings, I wanted to say “hello!” to our new PA clients and contacts; thank you for making our move from SC easier on us. And a special “thank you” to our SC clients that have stayed with us and supported us throughout this transition; it’s been quite a challenge setting up a business in a new place and we are very grateful for your support.

Also in the spirit of new beginnings, we’re resolving to blog a lot more in 2012. We really want to not only provide our clients with excellent services, but use this blog as a resource for you all to stay updated and informed about our company and how Three TEN Seven Design is growing. We also want to share with you, the resources, software and techniques we are using to make our lives easier and our business run smoother and we want to share more of our lives with you; blogging about what we’re up to and becoming more active in social media.

Being a web designer myself, I’ve often thought of things that my clients could do or say that would greatly improve my performance on the job that I wish they knew about. For your benefit I am about to mention some of those things. Whether you get your web services done by Three TEN Seven or someone else, I would like to share some tips with you on how to get the the most bang for your web design buck.

Hello, bloggers! I am excited because we have a lot to do in the coming months and I’m thrilled for the coming of 2011! I’ve been neglecting this blog for…a month? (sorry) so let me just take a few moments to get you up to speed.

As in my two most recent blogs, I’ve been working on two different projects lately. One was my Benefit for CODA (read about it here) and our nerds networking group, which still has yet to be branded (read about it here).

By now there’s been some talk and a meet-up concerning our new nerds networking group. This is an idea that we definitely intend to move forward with, but not before giving our fans, followers and readers more information about what this group is all about and what our goals are.

To put it bluntly, my husband Tristan and I have gotten fed up with the networking groups in the area. Some are great ideas but happen too infrequently, others are made up of 80% baby-boomers; which isn’t a bad thing by any means, but we are both in our 20′s and lately we have felt like we just don’t fit. Also, most of the people in these groups don’t know what we’re talking about and we feel like the people that do are hidden; we want to bring them out.

At Three TEN Seven Design we care about causes and we also care about the well being of women in our community. So this October we will be co-sponsoring an event with Networking in High Heels to benefit CODA (Citizens Oppose to Domestic Abuse), a non-profit organization that supports victims of domestic violence here in the lowcountry.

Besides being a web developer and loving it, I have teamed up with Networking in High Heels to bring you one of my other passions in life; martial arts. As a woman minority and a woman who has Continue reading →

This past Tuesday I spoke at the first ever Bluffton Networking in High Heels meeting about what a website should be doing to help your business grow and how we can help make that happen. Since I’m not the best speaker in the world I decided to summarize what I said last week in writing. For those that may have missed the event or had trouble understanding what I was talking about, here are some key points on the subject Continue reading →

Afternoon, everyone! I’ve started writing at a web design blog called,Creative Nerds recently. Some of the articles I’m going to be writing are aimed toward my fellow nerds and freelancers but I will be writing a few that really apply to other business people as well.